Louis Blanc

Louis Blanc (29 October 1811-6 December 1882) was a French socialist politician who played a key role in the French Revolution of 1848.

Biography
Louis Blanc was born in Madrid, Spain on 29 October 1811, the son of Joseph Bonaparte's Inspector-General of Finance. Influenced by socialist ideals, in 1841 he published a work criticizing the July Monarchy, and he published The History of the French Revolution in 1847. A year later, he led the socialist camp during the French Revolution of 1848, and he supported public workshops to increase employment. When the workshops were closed, they rebelled against the National Guard of France, leading to the bloody "July Days" uprising. Blanc was pressured by both the sans-culottes and the National Guard, leading to him going into exile. He stayed in Britain until the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870, when he returned to France and was elected to the National Assembly. Though a leftist, he did not sympathize with the Communards, instead holding moderate views; still, he successfully advocated for clemency for the Communards. His ideas of workers' cooperatives were never realized, but his political views led to the rise of socialism in the country.